Pre-covid, if you wanted to see a GP, but not urgently, you could ring the surgery and arrange an appointment for five or six days in the future. Easy and practical.
Now, however, this is not possible. You have to ring at 8pm and join the queue, waiting on hold for an eternity, to get a same day appointment, if you are lucky. How is this an improvement?
My mother's surgery uses the same system. The last time she made an appointment, she rang dead on 8pm. She was number 55 in the queue ! Finally got through after holding on for 65 minutes - she was told that she could have an appointment, but it would have to be in thirty minutes time ! Not easy when you are 96 and need to arrange a taxi.
The actual medical treatment she receives is excellent, but the delivery of the service is dire